Stanley Reservoir and Mettur Dam Construction Railways

Stanley Reservoir and Mettur Dam Construction Railways

The Stanley Reservoir, Salem District, was opened in 1934 by Sir George Stanley, the then Governor of Madras.

The Mettur Dam was constructed by the Madras Presidency Public Works Department to capture the water and create the Resevoir from the Cauvery River (now named Kaveri) where the river enters the plains. The dam is over 1 miles in length (1.7km) with a height of 120 feet(37metres) .

Construction History

Work on the dam commenced in July 1925 and originally all material for the project was carried by road from Erode Juction on the South Indian Railway (SIR). To supply lime and fuel led to the proposal to build a road from Thinnapatti on the SIR north of Salem. The Cheif Engineer considered a tramway to be more convienient,; and in June 1926 Martin & Company offered to constuct a line at their own cost and charge the project a fixed rate per ton carried. Neither of these proposals were taken up .

Salem-Metur-Dam Railway. SIR eventually built a broad gauge(BG) from Salem to Metur. It was opened for the conveyance of material for the project in Feb 1929 and passenger traffic in April 1929. The line was 26 miles(42km) long and was built within a year of first survey. Trainloads of cement and machinery were delivered directly to the dam site using the line. Cement wagons arrived from the 'Shahabad Cement Co, Wadi and Madras daily. A large transhipment shed shed was constructed where BG wagons could be unloaded in dry conditions and transferred to a permanent 2ft/610mm narrow gauge(NG) system. External cranes transferred machinery to this NG system .

Narrow Gauge System. The NG system comprised two parts; the permanent section and sections that were temporarily laid for specific projects. The NG workshops, locomotive and wagon repair sheds were located at the rear of the dam and lines ran in all directions from there:- to quarries, sand dumps and the railway station. A double track line was laid over the Cauvery bridge that continued up a gradient on the steep side of the Chettamalai hills which included a reversing station. At the height of the project there were nearly 70 miles(112km) of track in use. The records show details of the 38 locomotives and over 800 wagons in use

Records

An on-line search of the IOR records relating to the SIR Railway gives the following: -

• L/F/7/2601 “ Collection 400/8: South Indian Railway: Contract for working of Shoranur-Nilambur, Salem-Metur Dam and Vriddhachalam-Cuddalore Lines; 1931-33"
• L/F/8/20/1774 “South Indian Railway Company Limited, Contract as to working of Shoranur-Nilambur Line, Salem-Metur-Dam Line and Vriddhachalam-Cuddalore Line; 1933"